LIMA EXHIBITION LOCATION IN LANGKAWI TO BE EXPANDED - ANWAR

LANGKAWI, May 19 (Bernama) -- The location of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA), here will be expanded to accommodate more participation from international companies.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the exhibition area, especially at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC), is currently becoming crowded and unable to accommodate more participants.

"I was briefed by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin a while ago that the area needs to be expanded to accommodate more international companies," he said.

He told reporters that after the opening ceremony of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Langkawi Division Office, here today.

Commenting further, he said that the expansion of the exhibition area is expected to also include the Langkawi International Airport (LIA).

However, there is no specific period allocated for the matter but he hopes the relevant parties, including the Ministry of Finance, can submit a report on the matter within two weeks.

“It is good for now, the response is good, but just now when we were given a briefing, there were several countries that wanted to participate, but we couldn’t accommodate them,” he said.

Earlier, during his speech at the event, Anwar said the need to expand the LIMA exhibition area is seen as significant in making the event bigger and even more impressive in the future.

Meanwhile, Anwar said the issue related to the ferry service to Langkawi would be brought to the Cabinet for discussion to improve the infrastructure in line with Langkawi’s development as a tourist destination.

“That is why I have asked that the Minister of Finance II (Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan) be the co-chairman of the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) so that there is a boost to development in Langkawi,” he said.

-- BERNAMA